This application makes reference to, incorporates the same herein, and claims all benefits accruing under 35 U.S.C. xc2xa7119 from an application entitled SYSTEM FOR PROCESSING PROTOCOL FOR INTERNET SERVICES EMPLOYING SERIAL LINE AND ATM NETWORK earlier filed in the Korean Industrial Property Office on May 23, 1998, and there duly assigned Serial No. 18713/1998, a copy of which is annexed hereto.
1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a system for processing protocols for Internet services employing a serial line and an asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) network.
2. Related Art
Internet services are available which can be utilized to exchange information between users of computer systems. An asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) network can be used to facilitate such exchanges of information. The transmission control protocol/Internet protocol (TCP/IP) is an Internet protocol by which the Internet services are provided through an ATM network. I have found that there is a need to improve protocol processing for Internet services to improve communication functions and to facilitate an exchange of information.
Background information regarding asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) is as follows. In the field of high speed networking, asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) is a key component. ATM is a telecommunications technique for carriage of a complete range of user traffic, including voice, data, and video signals, on any user-to-network interface (UNI). The ATM telecommunications technique was defined by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and International Telecommunications Union (ITU) standards.
Internet services are available which can be utilized to exchange information between users of computer systems. An asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) network can be used to facilitate such exchanges of information. The transmission control protocol/Internet protocol (TCP/IP) is an Internet protocol by which the Internet services are provided through an ATM network. I have found that there is a need to improve protocol processing for Internet services to improve communication functions and to facilitate an exchange of information.
Inefficient protocol processing can slow the communication across networks such as Internet service-related networks, which can be extremely inconvenient. Efforts have been made to improve network communications.
Exemplars of recent efforts in the art include U.S. Pat. No. 5,870,565 for TELECOMMUNICATIONS MANAGEMENT NETWORK CONNECTED TO A COMMON CHANNEL SIGNALING NETWORK issued to Glitho, U.S. Pat. No. 5,802,287 for SINGLE CHIP UNIVERSAL PROTOCOL MULTI-FUNCTION ATM NETWORK INTERFACE issued to Rostoker, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,666,487 for NETWORK PROVIDING SIGNALS OF DIFFERENT FORMATS TO A USER BY MULTPLEXING COMPRESSED BROAD BAND DATA WITH DATA OF A DIFFERENT FORMAT INTO MPEG ENCODED DATA STREAM issued to Goodman, U.S. Pat. No. 5,583,927 for METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR INTEGRATlNG TELEPHONE AND BROADBAND NETWORKS issued to Ely, et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 5,392,277 for ROUTING TO INTELLIGENCE issued to Bernstein.
While these recent efforts provide advantages, I note that they fail to adequately provide a method and system for efficiently and conveniently processing protocols for Internet services employing a serial line and an ATM network.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a system for processing protocols for Internet services employing a serial line and an ATM network where a settop-box needs not perform the protocol conversion.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a system for processing protocols for Internet services regardless of the kinds of the protocols used in an ATM network.
According to the present invention, a system for processing protocols for Internet services employing a serial line and ATM network comprises: a settop-box loading TCP/IP data on a designated ATM cell or delivering TCP/IP data loaded on an ATM cell to a computer, and an Internet gateway converting the data according to a protocol used in an external network into the TCP/IP data transferred through the settop-box and ATM network, wherein the Internet gateway also converts the TCP/IP data into the data according to the protocol used in the external network.
To achieve these and other objects in accordance with the principles of the present invention, as embodied and broadly described, the present invention provides an apparatus conveying data between two locations, said apparatus comprising: a computer unit conveying varying information to a user; a serial communication cable being coupled to said computer unit; a settop box unit being coupled to said serial communication cable, said settop box unit receiving said first data output via said serial communication cable from said computer unit, loading said first data on at least one primary asynchronous transfer mode cell, outputting said first data loaded on said at least one primary asynchronous transfer mode cell, receiving second data, outputting said second data via said serial communication cable to said computer unit, said first and second data conforming to a first communications protocol, said first data being different from said second data; an asynchronous transfer mode network receiving said first data output from said settop box unit and then outputting said first data, receiving said second data and then outputting said second data to said settop box unit; an Internet gateway unit receiving said first data from said asynchronous transfer mode network, converting said first data from said first communications protocol to a second communications protocol, receiving said second data conforming to said second communications protocol, converting said second data from said second communications protocol to said first communications protocol, loading said second data conforming to said first communications protocol on at least one secondary asynchronous transfer mode cell, outputting said second data loaded on said at least one secondary asynchronous transfer mode cell to said asynchronous transfer mode network; and an external network being coupled to said Internet gateway, receiving said first data conforming to said second communications protocol from said Internet gateway unit, outputting said second data conforming to said second communications protocol to said Internet gateway unit, said second communications protocol being compatible with said external network.
The present invention is more specifically described in the following paragraphs by reference to the drawings attached only by way of example. Other advantages and features will become apparent from the following description and from the claims.